Allow Free Registered Users setting w/ Offline Pa

OK, now we've really determined that the proper setting for our CB Subs is YES.

Setting it to NO caused a lot of people to be blocked when they logged in, tried to join or renew, and ran afoul of Paypal.

Setting it to NO didn't stop the new members from registering, but it did block them from being able to pay for a membership. They could log into the site, but they couldn't purchase a membership, they could only make a donation.

Setting it to NO didn't stop the new members from registering, but it did block them from being able to pay for a membership. They could log into the site, but they couldn't purchase a membership, they could only make a donation.

Right, that's how it's supposed to work. It'll display to them the plans that allow upgrade. Plans shown on registration only are not visible on this page. I am guessing your donation plan is the only one set to allow upgrades so it can be purchased on their profile.

Yes, I had to explain to Nick who Mick Jagger is, so he'd understand the reference "You can't always get what you want". We have a physical club with many computer-unsavvy members, and offer quarterly and annual memberships, with a $5 discount on the quarterly membership for students and seniors; these are exclusive plans, but we offer no real upgrades, just the same membership in differing lengths. So our plan settings in CBSubs are set to achieve a close, but not complete, match to our objectives. The mismatch results in a lot of work for me as Treasurer:

--I have to fix all the problems created by people who screw up their signup or renewal

--I have to manually process a lot of offline payments made in cash, check, or (now) Authorize.net simple checkout payments.

--Members are confused by not being able to choose another plan when they are informed their current plan is about to expire.

It would really help to have a feasible way to prevent people from registering as a user in CB without initiating a payment in CBSubs, and definitely without blocking members from logging in just because they failed to complete a payment. And it would help to be able to offer renewing members their choice of plan, without having to preset the alternatives as "upgrades".

But it's like Mick Jagger sang, you can't always get what you want. CBSubs is great software, we really need it to know who's a member, and to have a payment method that works fine most of the time.

--I have to manually process a lot of offline payments made in cash, check, or (now) Authorize.net simple checkout payments.

Nothing that can really be done about this as offline payments are check/cash based. Only solution I suppose is to stop accepting offline payments.

--Members are confused by not being able to choose another plan when they are
informed their current plan is about to expire.

Setting your plans to also allow upgrades resolves this.

It would really help to have a feasible way to prevent people from registering as a user in CB without initiating a payment in CBSubs, and definitely without blocking members from logging in just because they failed to complete a payment. And it would help to be able to offer renewing members their choice of plan, without having to preset the alternatives as "upgrades".

You can, allow free registrations. You'd still need to have your plans allow upgrades though. You can use conditions to stop users from seeing these plans if they are actively subscribed to any of the others though so they can't actually upgrade from 1 plan to another.

Hi Kyle,

Apparently you didn't get that we hired Joomlapolis for tech support to provide the best possible settings for CBSubs, based on a very detailed explanation of what we wanted. The result is very good, but not perfect, because CBSubs just can't do exactly what we want. It comes very close, and hopefully with the next releases, it will do even better.

I hope when Joomlapolis talks about the improvements you'll be working on, you'll pay attention to physical clubs like ours, who need

1. an easier way to administer offline payments (can't do without them, whereas web-based clubs just don't need 'em),


2. a hosted payment system better than Paypal Standard (that's why we've also hired OSDC), and


3. a way of presenting membership duration choices that doesn't confuse members by talking about "upgrades".

an easier way to administer offline payments (can't do without them, whereas web-based clubs just don't need 'em),

What do you have in mind exactly? CBSubs 1.3.0 stable release will allow management (this includes paying offline memberships) from frontend.

a hosted payment system better than Paypal Standard (that's why we've also hired OSDC), and

We already have this with 2CO. I recommend checking them out if not satisfied with PayPal. We're certainly open to suggestions if you've something else in mind.

a way of presenting membership duration choices that doesn't confuse members by talking about "upgrades".

You don't have to use the term Upgrades as it's a language string. You're welcome to change it to whatever you like. Frontend usage suggestions are also certainly welcome.